Are holiday decorations ruining your WiFi connection?

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Holiday lights are fun to look at, but are they killing your WiFi signal? British regulators say, “yes,” so we put it to the test.

A recent article in the Washington Post suggested that Christmas lights could be interfering with your internet connection. It cited the British agency, Ofcom, which is similar to the Federal Communications Commission in the U.S., as the one raising a red flag on our red and green festive lights. So we decided to put it to the test.

Technology expert and CEO of Cybersecurity Defense Solutions, Greg Scansy, downloaded a wireless analyzer called Net Spot and helped us with our test. Whether the laptop we used was by the tree, in the tree, or even wrapped in lights, the noise level stayed low meaning our wireless signal was just fine.

We asked Scansy if he thought there was any truth to claim that your holiday lights could interfere with your WiFi.

“It’s a myth. Total myth,” he said. “You have more wiring in your house, than you do on your Christmas tree lights. I mean if you lit your house up like the Griswolds, if you had a lot of stuff wrapped around your house, it could.”

We asked our own Clark Griswold, WINK News anchor Bob Irzyk, if he has ever experienced WiFi problems after decking his house in thousands of lights.

“I notice when my lights go on each night, my neighbors lights dim a little bit. But as it comes to the WiFi, not really.” He then joked, “Maybe I need to get more Christmas lights.”

Scansy says it is more likely that everyone visiting for the holidays, using your WiFi, is actually what is slowing it down. He says the reason the lights do not impact your WiFi is because they operate on two different frequencies.